1858 . 
THE CULTIVATOR 
247 
Fruits, &c.—Random Notes. 
Dwarf Pears. —II. E. Hooker of Rochester, re¬ 
cently showed us a tree of the Glout Morceau pear, 
which last year bore, according to his statement, (and 
no one is more reliable and accurate,) one barrel of 
fruit. It is eight or nine years old, is worked on the 
quince, and presents an exceedingly thrifty appear¬ 
ance. In common with the other pear trees in that re¬ 
gion, it bears but few this year. The union between 
the pear and the quince is at the surface of the earth— 
the graft has not in the least outgrown the stock, but 
both present an even surface. It does not stand in or 
near grass; and what many would regard as unrea¬ 
sonably laborious, the soil is as clean and mellow as it 
usually made among a crop of beans or potatoes. The 
tree has had but little pruning. We omitted to ask the 
price at which the pears sold in market; but Glout 
Morceaus from another garden two miles distant, sold 
the previous year when ripe, at two to three dollars 
per dozen. 
On the same premises there are more than an acre 
of dwarfs, four years growth since setting, now form¬ 
ing fine pyramids seven or eight feet high. This being 
an unusully unproductive year, they are now bearing 
but little, but are making a most vigorous growth. 
They are in rows eight feet apart each way, and the 
ground is kept, at very little expense, constantly clean 
and mellow, by the use of a two-horse cultivator. 
Strawberries. —The strawberry is largely cultiva¬ 
ted for the purpose of testing, on these grounds. We 
found the Hooker maintaining its high reputation for 
large size ; perfect, full, and plump berries ; great pro¬ 
ductiveness and excellent flavor. Berries an inch and a 
fourth, and even an inch and a third in diameter, are not 
uncommon. Its defects are, too soft a texture for mar¬ 
keting—and a liability to injure by the cold of winter, 
in consequence of the protrusion of the crowns of the 
plants above the surface of the ground. Walker's Seed¬ 
ling proves good and productive, but too small. Scott's 
seedling is large and showy, but lacks flavor. Gene¬ 
see continues to be a fine and handsome variety. Tri- 
omphe de Gand is very large and good, and more pro¬ 
ductive than many foreign sorts. McAvoy's Superior 
and Longworth's .Prolific , do not maintain a very high 
reputation, compared with some others. 
On the adjoining grounds of Selah Mathews, we 
found an equally thrifty orchard of dwarf pears, with 
the exception Gf a few that had been removed last 
spring,) and kept similarly cultivated. The few that 
had been removed, and which were doing well, bore each 
last year from one to two bushels of pears. This or¬ 
chard of dwarfs is intended entirely for the private 
supply of the family. In the adjoining hot-house we 
saw a George IV peach tree four feet high, on which 
there were twenty-eight beautiful, fully ripened peach¬ 
es, measuring each two and a half inches in diameter. 
Eight or ten had been previously picked from the tree. 
This is an usual crop for hot-house culture, the peach¬ 
es being ripe, while the fruit on the trees outside was 
not more than one-tenth grown. 
On another lot is a Bartlett pear, on pear roots, 15 
years old, which bore two barrels of fruit last year. 
Its cultivation appeared to be rather neglected at pre¬ 
sent. 
Osage Hedges. —One of the best Osage hedges we 
have met with, forms the barrier between the grounds i 
of H. E. Hooker and the public road. It is very 
broad at bottom and very dense—the two most impor¬ 
tant requisites in a good hedge. We saw this hedga 
when it was four years old, at which time it formed a 
complete protection ; since which it was killed partly 
down by a severe winter, but the dead shoots proved 
quite as efficient as green ones, until a new growth 
sprung up, which speedily took place. It is now about 
seven years old, and is impenetrable. 
-e-«—o- 
Profits of Poultry. 
We have no doubt that the business of keeping and 
raising poultry may, if well managed, be made as pro¬ 
fitable as any other branch usually carried on upon a 
farm, in proportion to the capital invested and the la¬ 
bor bestowed upon it, nor would we hesitate to recom¬ 
mend it as a business which would pay well for greater 
attention and care than are usually bestowed upon it, 
especially when there are children in the family of 
suitable age and good tact for hunting eggs, feeding 
and rearing chickens, &e.; but nevertheless we think 
such instances as the following must be quite rare, as 
they require a combination of a very good market and 
very goocl luck, with perhaps some other things added. 
Mr. D. H. Fitch of Norwalk, Conn , gives the fol¬ 
lowing statement of his experience in the hen business, 
in the columns of The Homestead. His expenditures 
were, 
1856. April 19. For 15 hens and 3 roosters, $7.87 
1858. Jan’ry 1. For feed to date,... 204.31 
“ “ freight expenses,. 2.94 
“ “ time dressing 304 chick¬ 
ens, . 6.08 
-$221.20 
His receipts were, 
1858. Jan. 1. By 304 chickens sold,.$145.80 
“ “ 8,748 eggs to date,. 142.18 
“ “ 39 lbs feathers. 7.20 
“ “ 24 bush, manure,. 9.60 
“ “ 115 fowls on hand,. 60.10 
- 369.88 
Making a balance of nett gain in one year, eight 
months and twelve days, of....$148.69 
Mr. Joseph Mace of Amherst, N. H., sends a state¬ 
ment of his profits in keeping and raising poultry, to 
the N. E. Farmer , of which the following is the sub¬ 
stance : His stock of poultry consists of a lot of domes¬ 
tic fowls, a few half-wild turkeys, and a few Bremen 
geese. His domestic fowls comprise the Cochin, Span¬ 
ish, and Polish hen. He prefers the Bremen geese to 
any other variety, because their feathers are purer 
white, and because they produce nearly double the 
quantity of the common kinds; their flesh also is far 
superior both in weight and quality. His stoek of 
poultry, Jan. 1, 1857, was as follows: 22 hens, 3 roos¬ 
ters, 3 hen turkeys, 3 geese, (or 2 geese and 1 gander.) 
He raised 100 chickens, 66 turkeys and 25 goslings 
from the same. 
Amount of capital invested in fowls,.. $15.00 
“ “ “ for grain,. 50.60 
$65.60 
Amount of poultry sold, _. $93.33 
“ used in family,. 6.00 
“ of eggs sold,. 16.33 
“ of stock on hand,. 22.00 
- 137.66 
Profit,. $72.00 
In this account there is no credit given for the eggs 
used by the family, nor for the feathers produced by 
the geese, which Mr. Mace estimates at about $6, and 
which would go a good way towards paying for dress¬ 
ing and marketing. 
